Man survived on sugar, water in bush for days

Related Items

Local Real Estate

Subscribe Now

AFTER five days and an extensive search of bushland south-west of Casino by emergency services, volunteers and locals, missing Byron Bay man Nicholas Thurgood was found alive and well.

Richmond Local Area Command sergeant Virginia Szaak said the 41-year-old man was discovered on a property on Old Tenterfield Rd by a passer-by on a motorcycle at about 11.30am on Saturday.

The motorcycle rider said he heard the man yelling out and called police.

Sergeant Szaak said Mr Thurgood was unharmed and was returned home safely.

"All he told us was he found shelter, he had access to water and he had some sugar on him so he was able to stay well enough," she said.

Mr Thurgood's explanation to police for his five-day disappearance was that he had been lost.

Mr Thurgood was reported missing on Tuesday by a friend who told police he had last seen him on a Seery Rd property in Kippenduff, 55km south-west of Casino, at about 4am that day.

An intensive search then began with police, members of the Volunteer Rescue Association and local land owners searching the surrounding bushland on Tuesday.

By Wednesday, the Westpac Rescue Lifesaver Helicopter had joined the search and by Thursday, SES personnel were involved, combing the property where he went missing on foot while a police helicopter searched from above.

Prior to Mr Thurgood being found, Richmond Local Area Command Inspector Mick Dempsey said the reason behind the man's disappearance was a mystery.

"We don't know why they were out there... We have very little to go on," he said.